If there’s one question I get constantly when regarding my railroad photography, it’s “Why?”
Well, there’s a long and a short answer to that question.
The short answer: because trains are cool!
The long answer is a little more complex. When I graduated high school in 2009, I didn’t run off to college like everyone else. I went back to work and dreamed. I had a gig at a fast food restaurant in town that had railroad tracks behind the building, and every time I would feel the floor start to vibrate, or the overwhelming rumble from outside, I would drop what I was doing and run to the back door to get a glimpse at what was rolling by. Not really the actions of a model employee, but I couldn’t help it. My dad used to bring me around the trains in town when I was little and the fascination stuck with me. Later on, through the power of the internet, I met other people who liked trains as much as I did. People who would become lifelong friends and introduce me to others interested in the subject, and even railroad employees whom I often looked at like “celebrities”. Their job was so cool and I wanted it. After spending some time volunteering on passenger excursions for the Providence & Worcester Railroad and getting to meet some really amazing people, I was tipped off that there was a job opening at a small railroad (a short line) in southern Rhode Island and I applied. Not too long after I got a phone call and an interview and the rest is history. I spent a total of 8 years working for two different railroads, not including the few years I spent on the P&W excursions. I learned so much and saw a side of the industry that not many others get to see which further grew my fascination with the subject. I’ve since gone on to bigger and better thing’s and no longer work for the railroad, but the love for it still sits with me. The people, the sounds, the smells, the steel. It all makes for such a fantastic photography subject. One where a photo of it is truly worth a thousand words, if not more.
With that being said, please, scroll through the images below to enjoy some of my work from around the country!
Nebraska Central Railroad's "Ord Local" prepares to leave Ord, Nebraska. The engineer climbs aboard his locomotive's while the conductor waits in his company truck, to follow the train from customer to customer. - Ord, Nebraska.
Nebraska Central Railroad's "Ord Local" motors on through the rural foothills of Nebraska, somewhere between Ord and North Loup.
A Canadian Pacific Engineer guides his train through Northtown Yard. - Minneapolis, Minnesota.
A Grafton and Upton Railroad Conductor hangs on to a hopper car loaded with wood stove pellets. - North Grafton, Massachusetts.
PNLX GP40-2W #9619 is seen in North Grafton Yard being tested on the Grafton and Upton Railroad. - North Grafton, Massachusetts.
CSX local B727 makes some moves at New England Waste Disposal as the sun sets on a cold December afternoon. - Taunton, Massachusetts.
Amtrak Regional train #99 rips down the Northeast Corridor through Attleboro, Massachusetts. The 10 car double header was lead by ACS-64 #662 in a Phase 3 style wrap, advertising the video game "Train Sim World 2" and Amtrak's 50th Anniversary on its sides. - Attleboro, Massachusetts.
BNSF train NSI-NTW rounds the curve at West Division Street, en-route to Northtown Yard in Minneapolis with a trio BNSF GE's for power. - St. Paul, Minnesota.
A monster BNSF manifest shoots down the Staples Sub on a beautiful Spring morning. - Frazee, Minnesota.
At upwards of 60 mph with the horn blaring, CP train 148 disrupts this quiet scene in the small town of Regal, population 35. - Regal, Minnesota.
Canadian Pacific's business train, train 40B, rips though the small town of Mahnomen, on CP's Paynesville Subdivision. - Mahnomen, Minnesota.
Deer crossing sign by the Dakota and Iowa Railroad's right of way. - Westfield, Iowa.
Dakota and Iowa Railroad train MDRSC-18 seen at Westfield, on a cloudy Spring afternoon. - Westfield, Iowa.
Dakota & Iowa train MSCDR-19 (Manifest from Sioux City to Dell Rapids) rolls over the Big Sioux River, out of South Dakota, and into Iowa. - Inwood, Iowa.
Pan Am Railways train POWA makes its way over the Fore River en-route to Waterville, Maine. - Portland, Maine.
Providence and Worcester conductor D. Sullivan flags his train across Cottage Street in Pawtucket. - Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Canadian Pacific train D45 rolls over the Mohawk River on a chilly 20 degree fall morning. - Cohoes, New York.
Number board on Providence and Worcester locomotive #3905. - Uxbridge, Massachusetts.
Soo Line railroad sign lighting up the night atop the defunct Superior train station, turned restaurant. - Superior, Wisconsin.
Iron Ore pellets litter the right of way along CN's ex DM&IR Iron Range. The tiny pellets fall from loaded cars en-route to the unloading docks, creating a mess at grade crossings. - Iron Junction, Minnesota.
Heavy snow dumps on the Grand Rapids local, as the brakeman hangs on to the second unit waiting for the train to come to a stop so he can dismount and make a cut. - Cloquet, Minnesota.
BNSF Manifest - Sedalia, Colorado.
BNSF Manifest - Spruce, Colorado.
Canadian National ore train U789-21 makes their way up the CN's Iron Range Sub with a heavy train for Two Harbors on a beautiful winter morning. - Iron Junction, Minnesota.
Norfolk Southern train 37T screams downhill during a snow squall with NS SD9043MAC #7337 (Ex Indiana Railroad #9008) up front. - Laurel Run, Pennsylvania.
BNSF's "Golden Local" works the yard along 10th Street, just outside the Coors Brewery, with a sharp pair of clean SD40-2's for power. - Golden, Colorado.
BNSF ET44C4 #3938 leads two more GE's and a big train of miscellaneous freight up the hill at Palmer Lake, with Sundance Mountain and Pikes Peak National Forest looming in the background. - Palmer Lake, Colorado.
CN #3310 leads an older C44-9 and a unit sand train through some heavy snow on CN's Missabe Sub. - Payne, Minnesota.
A unit oil train battles the Moffat Sub on a sunny, late summer, morning in the Rockies. - Tolland, Colorado.
A train of miscellaneous freight grinds its way up the hill at Palmer Lake on a warm August morning. - Palmer Lake, Colorado.
View From the Cockpit - Saginaw, Minnesota.
A trio of 6 axle EMD's break the silence during an early morning flurry, on CN's ex DM&IR. The roar of three EMD 645 prime movers at the crack of dawn was fantastic. - Saginaw, Minnesota.
Keith Creel (left) and company enjoy the views from the observation car, picking up the rear on train 40B. - Callaway, Minnesota.
Providence and Worcester GP38-2's #2008 and #2007 punch through the heart of Woonsocket, 9 x 106 on a rainy February morning. - Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
Union Pacific train MPUNY (Pueblo - North Yard/Denver) climbs over the hills on UP's Colorado Springs Subdivision. In the foreground is BNSF's Pikes Peak Subdivision, both part of the Colorado Joint Line. - Greenland, Colorado.
Union Pacific #1943 leads train MNYPU on a beautiful Summer morning. - Greenland, Colorado.
Canadian National train U714-21 navigates the curves at Culver on a beautiful winter 2023 morning. - Culver, Minnesota.
CN's Keenan local R901 tears down the Iron Range Sub with four cars and a spacer for Dyno in Biwabik. - Iron Junction, Minnesota.